The Asian Development Bank (ADB) announced on September 21 the approval of a USD 100 million policy-based loan to support Georgia’s electricity transmission sector.
The financial backing is intended for “improving the operational structure, corporate governance, and financial management of the country’s electricity transmission company and its subsidiary.”
The loan, part of the Electricity Transmission Sector Reforms Program, aims to support the Joint-Stock Company Georgian State Electrosystem (GSE) and its subsidiary EnergoTrans to reduce their dependency on government funding and external borrowing.
The disbursement comes some three weeks after the Government of Georgia preemptively refused EUR 75 million loan of “highly favorable” terms from the EU, citing its wish to reduce foreign debt and to avoid “political insinuations.”
The 27-member bloc tied the disbursement of the loan, supposed to help Georgia cover its immediate financing needs that have increased due to the coronavirus outbreak, to the judiciary reform. The EU said after the Georgian Government’s refusal that Georgia failed to meet the condition and would not be eligible to the loan anyway.
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